Storage device



Nov. 11, 1969 c, w, BROUWER ETAL 3,477,476

STORAGE DEVICE Filed Feb. 26, 1968 FIG.|

INVENTORS CHARLES W. BROUWER AITORNEYS,

United States Patent 3,477,476 STORAGE DEVICE Charles W. Brouwer, EastGreenwich, and Hans H.

Richter, Warwick, R.I., assignors to Leesona Corporation, Warwick, R.I.,a corporation of Massachusetts Filed Feb. 26, 1968, Ser. No. 708,272Int. Cl. D03d 47/30; B65h 59/22 U.S. Cl. 139-122 4 Claims ABSTRACT OFTHE DISCLOSURE Apparatus for continuously unwinding yarn from a supplyand releasably storing the yarn. The yarn is guided into a helical loophaving more than 180 of arc and pressurized fluid from within the loopis directed outwardly against the yarn. As tension in the yarndecreases, the yarn expands outwardly to form a larger 100p, and astension in the yarn increases, the yarn contracts to form a smallerloop.

The present invention relates generally to textile machinery and morespecifically to apparatus for releasably storing a strand of yarn.

In the following specification, the term yarn is employed in a generalsense to denote all kinds of strand material, either textile orotherwise, and the term package denotes the product of a windingmachine, whatever its form.

In certain textile operations, a strand of yarn is drawn intermittentlyand at high speed from a supply package. One typical operation involvesa so-called shuttleless weaving machine in which, during the course of apick, one yarn carrier draws a substantially doubled length of yarn fromthe supply package through a portion of a shed of a fabric being woven.The doubled length of yarn, which is sufficiently long to reach acrossthe width of the fabric, is then transferred within the shed to anothercarrier which takes no additional yarn from the supply package but drawsthe yarn already provided through the remainder of the shed. Thus yarnis withdrawn from the supply package of a shuttleless weaving machineonly during one-half of a pick. Further, since an entire pick consumesonly a fraction of the time period involved in a complete operatingcycle of the shuttleless weaving machine, it follows that yarn iswithdrawn from the supply package during a small portion of theoperating cycle and remains dormant during the remainder of the cycle.This results in intermittent high speed withdrawal of yarn from thesupply package and imposes on the strand high tensile forces which areparticularly harmful to yarns of a staple variety. These high tensileforces often cause yarn breakage at the supply package itself orshelling of yarn from the supply package which eventually results inyarn breakage.

From experience, it is known that if yarn were to be continuously,instead of intermittently, withdrawn from a supply package, the speed ofwithdrawal could be substantially reduced. In a typical operation of ashuttleless weaving machine, the speed of withdrawal could be reduced bya factor between five and eight times over the conventional operation.For this reason, various mechanisms have been devised for continuouslywithdrawing the yarn from a supply package and storing it in a suitablemanner until called for by a yarn carrier which operates to draw fillingyarn through the shed formed by warp yarns. These devices which includeelaborate linkages, rotating discs and drums, and various othermechanical expedients, are often complicated in their design, costly toproduce, and may even be harmful to the yarn.

According to the present invention, yarn from the supply package isthreaded into and out of a storage device in which the yarn is guidedinto a helical loop having more than of arc. Pressurized fluid fromwithin the loop is directed outwardly against the yarn. As tension inthe yarn decreases, as when there is no demand for yarn, the yarnexpands outwardly to form a larger loop. However, when tension in theyarn is increased above a pre-established limit, as when yarn isdemanded by a yarn carrier, the yarn is drawn inwardly against the pressurized fluid to form a smaller loop. Readily adaptable to existingmachinery, the invention is inexpensive to produce, harmless to theyarn, has no moving parts, and is effective in withdrawing yarn from allsizes and shapes of yarn packages.

Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide a new andimproved yarn storage device.

Another object of the invention is to provide a new and improved yarnstorage device adapted to delivery yarn to an intermittently operatedtake-up while continuously unwinding yarn from a supply package.

Yet another object of the invention is the provision of a new andimproved yarn storage device which is fluid operated. A related objectis the provision of such apparatus having no moving parts. Anotherrelated object is the provision of such apparatus which can be readilythreaded up.

Still another object of the invention is the provision of a new andimproved yarn storage device adapted to guide a strand of yarn into apath including a loop having more than 180 of are and responsive totension in the strand for varying the magnitude of the loop.

A further object of the invention is to provide a new and improvedweaving machine having a fluid operated storage device for releasablystoring yarn intermediate the supply package and the filling carrier.

Other and further objects and advantages of the invention will beobvious or will be presented in the description which follows, takentogether with the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary schematic view, in perspective, of a shuttlelessweaving machine embodying the invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged top plan view of a yarn storage device illustratedin FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a further enlarged, fragmentary section view takensubstantially along line 3-3 in FIG. 2; and

FIG. 4 is a front elevation view of the device illustrated in FIG. 2, toa reduced scale.

Refer now to the drawings and initially to FIG. 1 in which a supplypackage P is suitably mounted adjacent a weaving machine L of theso-called shuttleless variety. Filling yarn Y is drawn from the packageP through a suitable tensioner 10 by a pair of spaced apart guides 11and 12, or the like, so as to be threadedly received for passage intoand out of a yarn storage device 14.

Drawing the filling yarn Y from the package P are a pair of cooperatingcarriers 16 and 18 operable for inserting the filling yarn Y through ashed S formed by warp yarns W in the course of weaving a fabric F. Thecarriers 16 and 18 are fixed, respectively, to the ends of flexibletapes 20 and 22 which in turn have their opposite ends fixed to a pairof rotatable tape wheels 24 and 26. In a suitably synchronizedoperation, the tape wheels 24 and 26 are oppositely rotated so as toadvance the respective carriers 16 and 18 in opposite directions throughthe shed S. When the carriers 16 and 18 meet at a location adjacent thecenter of the fabric F (indicated by broken lines in FIG. 1), thefilling yarn Y carried by the carrier 16 from the right edge of thefabric F (FIG. 1) is transferred to the carrier 18 for the remainder ofthe pick or travel through the shed S upon reversal of the tape wheels24 and 26. At the moment of transfer, a suitable yarn clamp 28 adjacentthe right edge of the fabric F being woven (FIG. 1) is closed, that is,moved from a solid line position to a dotted line position to firmlyhold the filling yarn Y while the carrier 18 draws the free end offilling yarn toward the left edge of the fabric F (FIG. 1).

Turning now to FIGS. 2 and 3, the yarn Y is guided into a helical-shapedpassage 30 defined between a front assembly 32 and a rear assembly 34 ofthe storage device 14. Initial thread-up of the yarn from the supplypackage P through the storage device 14 can be readily accomplished by acircular pass of yarn around the outer peripheral edge of the device soas to follow a helical loop or path through the passage 30. Theassemblies 32 and 34 are similarly constructed, each assembly including,respectively, an annular support 35 and 36. Suitably fixed as by weldingto an outer end of the annular support 35 is a front plate 38 having acentral aperture 40. Corresponding to the front plate 38 but absent acentral aperture, a rear plate 42 is welded to an outer end of theannular support 36. The inner ends of the annular supports 35 and 36opposite their respective plates 38 and 42 are provided with parallelbut spaced apart helical surfaces 44 and 46 to which are respectivelywelded a pair of parallel discs 48 having central apertures 50 (FIG. 3)and extending radially outwardly from the annular supports 35 and 36.

In order for the discs 48 to conform to the helical surfaces 44 and 46,each disc is slit radially and laterally offset along a generally radialzone 52 (FIGS. 2 and 4) extending from its central aperture 50 (FIG. 3)to its peripheral rim. A plurality of stitfeners in the form of ribs 47are welded to the outer surfaces of the discs 48 and to the outerperipheral surfaces of the annular supports 35 and 36 from which theyradially extend.

One end of a nozzle 54 is welded to the inner surface of the rear plate42 and extends through the supports 35 and 36 and the aperture 40 in thefront plate 38. A gasket washer 56 is fittingly received over a threadedportion 58 of the nozzle 54 and a nut 60 engaging the threaded portion58 is tightened to draw the front assembly 32 and the rear assembly 34towards one another. Between the discs 48 a plurality of uniform spacers62 are suitably held by fasteners 63 and arranged at circumferentiallyspaced locations having a common radial distance from the nozzle 54. Thespacers 62 serve to separate the assemblies 32 and 34 and therefore thediscs 48 to a predetermined extent, which may vary by suitably employingspacers of different lengths enabling the storage device 14 toaccommodate accordingly different weights or sizes of yarns.

Thus, when pressurized fluid such as air from a suitable source (notshown) is directed into a conduit 64 (FIG. 3) extending longitudinallythrough the nozzle 54, the fluidv flows through radial apertures 66 inthe nozzle 54 into a plenum chamber 68 defined by the annular supports35 and 36 and by the plates 38 and 42, then radially outwardly into thepassage 30. The pressure of the fluid within the plenum chamber 68 canbe suitably adjusted, then maintained at a pre-established value. Whenthe yarn clamp 28 has been suitably moved to the closed position,

the pressurized fluid applying a .radial force on the yarn within thepassage 30 urges the yarn outwardly away from the spacers 62 toward astorage position indicated by a yarn path Y in- FIG. 4 and draws theyarn under constant tension from the supply package P.

It will be appreciated that the yarn within the passage 30 is suitablyguided, as by the guides 11 and 12 into a loop having more than of are.As the are of the loop of yarn within the passage '30 increases above180, so does the capacity of the storage device 14 increase for a givendiameter of the device. Further, as the arc of the yarn loop increasesabove 180, the smaller is the peripheral opening permitting escape ofthe pressurized fluid, the escape of fluid being negligible when the arcis substantially 360. Thus, although the invention is directed toapparatus operable for guiding a strand of yarn into a path including aloop having more than 180 of are, it is preferable for reasons ofeconomy and capacity to provide a loop having approximately 360 of arc.

As the yarn approaches the storage position, at which time the length ofyarn contained within the passage 30 is still less than the length of apick or the width of the fabric F, the yarn clamp 28 is opened and thecarrier 16 begins its travel into the shed S. Momentarily, the tensionin the length of yarn extending between the carrier 16 and the storagedevice 14 increases relative to the tension in a length of yarnextending between the supply package P and the storage device with theresult that the yarn stored in the passage 30 is released to the carrier16. That is, the stored yarn is drawn radially inwardly toward thespacers 62 against the pressure of the fluid issuing from the nozzle 54and contracts to form a smaller loop as indicated by the yarn path Y inFIG. 4. In order to achieve continuous withdrawal of yarn from thepackage P, a length of yarn in addition to that already contained withinthe passage 30 is drawn from the package P as the size of the yarn loopcontracts and is of a length suflicient to complete therequirement ofthe carrier 16. By the time the yarn approaches its maximum releaseposition, the pick has been completed, and the yarn carriers 16 and 18have returned to their rest positions adjacent the tape wheels 24 and26. With the yarn clamp 28 suitably closed, pressurized fluid causes theyarn to reverse its movement within the passage 30 and return toward thestorage position, continuing to drawn the yarn from the package P undersubstantially constant tension. Thereupon, the carrier 16 again callsfor yarn for the ensuing pick, and the above-described operation isrepeated.

Thus, the construction disclosed provides a device which is of asimplified construction having no moving parts and which operates tocompensate for momentary or sudden changes in yarn tension whereby yarnbreakage is held to a minimum.

It will be appreciated that although the description has been limited tothe application of one storage device 14 for use with a weaving machineL, it is within the scope of the invention to provide two or more of thedevices 14 in series, for example, to accommodate a machine having aconsiderable width. Further, while a specific form of the invention hasbeen disclosed, it will be understood that various other changes andmodifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope ofthe invention as defined in the following claims.

What is claimed is:

1. Strand storage apparatus comprising means for guiding a strand into apath including a loop having more than 180 of are, means for maintainingthe strand so looped along said path, and biasing means responsive totension in the strand for varying the magnitude of said loop.

2. Strand storage apparatus as set forth in claim 1 in which saidbiasing means is within said loop.

3. Strand storage apparatus as set forth in claim 1 wherein said guidingmeans includes a member having a helical passage adapted to receive thestrand and said biasing means is operable to direct pressurized fluidinto said passage and against the strand.

4. Strand storage apparatus comprising means for guiding a strand into apath including a loop having more than 180 of are, said guiding meansincluding a pair of parallel plates spaced from each other andtherebetween defining a helical passage adapted to receive the strandand each having a central portion and a peripheral rim, said plateshaving substantially parallel opposed slits extending from said centralportion to said rim and each being offset from itself along its slit,and biasing means responsive to tension in the strand for varying themagnitude of said loop, said biasing means including a plenum chamber atsaid central portion, a source of fluid under constant pressure incommunication with said plenum chamber, and an orifice adapted to directsaid fluid from said chamber into said passage and against the strand.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATIENTS 2,741,443 4/ 1956 Klein.3,303,857 2/ 1967 Scheifel. 3,323,754 6/1967 Nixdorf et a1.

HENRY S. JAUDON, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 242-147

